Saints open new Kalgoorlie-Boulder Basketball Association campaign with victory over Franchise

Saints have opened their Kalgoorlie-Boulder Basketball Association men’s division one title defence with an emphatic victory over Franchise thanks to the dominance of the Clements brothers.

The fist round of the 2024-25 season saw the defending champions defeat Franchise 111-79, with Jordan Clements sinking 37 points and Lachlan Clements 33.

Saints were never headed in any quarter after bolting to a 25-9 lead at the end of the first term and finished with a 32-point victory.

For Franchise, Nicholas Lawrence scored 19 points and Maui Dela Cruz 17.

It was a much tighter affair in the other men’s division one match, with last year’s defeated grand finalists CBC just edging ahead of Olympians 66-63.

The first half ended with one point separating the teams — CBC leading 29-28 — but Olympians broke the game open in the third quarter, outscoring their opponents 22-14 to lead 50-43.

But any thoughts Olympians had of putting the game away in the final term were dashed when CBC stormed home 23-13 to secure the three-point win.

Nathan Vince lead the way for CBC with a game-high 24 points.

Jayden Doel was best for Olympians (20 points), with contributions also coming from Nicholas Shaw (17 points) and Aiden Calisken (14 points).

With just three teams in the women’s division one competition this season, only one match took place in the first four, with defending champions Olympians recording a comfortable 79-53 win over Saints.

Kate Sidebottom led the way with 24 points, with Zaleema Bourne chipping in 16 and Ashlee Sidebottom 11.

Chloe Zorzi was best for Saints with 23 points; Alex Clinch-Hoycard contributed 17 and Tegan Alabach 11.

This week’s match-up will see Saints take on CBC.

Round two men’s matches see Franchise play Olympians on Thursday, and Saints take on CBC in a grand final rematch on Friday.